It is what he does under that influence that matters, but we haven't seen too much of what he does either,

I mean ok we know for a fact he has brain washed all the original crew to do things for him, was the voices telling him to do that? I just don't know,

I know he needed the rod and the moon stone, but was he told to get those? Or was that part of himself?

We do know he heard voices and we do do he is being influenced somewhere along the lines, but we still don't know what it's all for,

However we do know that he wanted to be in control of the zombies, and swapped places with Samantha, now that he is in control if he was being influenced for good reasons wouldn't he have had them all killed by now?

Instead we are getting more and more of them,

I know it's a leap of faith, but I don't think that what ever is influencing him is in any way good,

I mean ok we know for a fact he has brain washed all the original crew to do things for him, was the voices telling him to do that? I just don't know,

He originally captured the crew to use them as human test subjects for the teleportation project, but he brain washed them and used them as skilled fighters and muscle in his quest to enter the MPD.

I know he needed the rod and the moon stone, but was he told to get those? Or was that part of himself?

He only became aware of the Rod and Stones existence after coming into contact with the MPD, so he gained knowledge from whoever of whatever is inside. Whether they told him how to obtain them, or just knows based on his contact with the device, we do not know.

"I know he needed the rod and the moon stone, but was he told to get those? Or was that part of himself?

He was told to. He would he know that we needed both to release Samantha from the Aether and switch bodies? He must've been told.

"However we do know that he wanted to be in control of the zombies, and swapped places with Samantha, now that he is in control if he was being influenced for good reasons wouldn't he have had them all killed by now?"

He didn't kill them yet because he need them to do his bidding. The reason he chose them is unknown.

Another thing. Not all "evil" people are bent to destroy. Some are because it's fun. Some are because they are sadistic. Maybe, if a demon is influencing Richtofen, the demon just wants to toy with the world?

The MPD collects a physical form of the soul. So the soul is not so much a spiritual thing in the storyline, but a physical thing that can be harnessed. So perhaps all the spiritual stuff referenced is actually just created by the aliens,Vril, or whoever made the MPD, and its their perception of how we see the afterlife, which they use to harness the human soul.

A while ago when we were analyzing the Nuketown loading screen, I thought the images were of an alien race burying or digging something up out of the ground with a giant spaceship. To primitive humans, they would have looked like gods and this could have been where the idea of Mictlantecuhti came from. A god splitting and going into the underworld. So as the aliens gathered human souls, where ever these souls were stored, there perception of what was happening became this hell they are trapped in. Which could be what the MotD crew have become trapped in. So you have a lot of Aztec mythology on the map from all the primitive souls collected around the time of the Nuketown loading screen, but other things like the Cerberus and 666 which would be other things associated with hell have also been added to this place by others who were absorbed later.

I don't know if I even believe any of that is in the story line or how would the MotD crew ended up there when they died. But its a theory that leaves the possibility that the higher power, the MPD, the nuketown aliens, the Vril, hell, and other mysteries of the storyline are all part of the same group as apposed to several. So you have humans and this one other party involved.

Yes, exactly mate. There is every real chance that all these possible forces are ONE, and could even be a 'higher power' created by the minds of Treyarch themselves, so there powers or will can be endless.

They have certainly led us down several paths, and we are still none the wiser from the speculations during Kino, to where we are now with MotD.

Infact we are even MORE confused. Still, the addition of this hellish location in MotD has put more focus now on Hell and some kind of Satanic force being in control.

Until DLC 3 drops, and we are give some new spanner thrown into the works that is...

The only thing I could see here that contradicts this, is that Maxis had no real intention of killing them all. That would imply that he would want his one and only daughter killed as well, which we know he doesn't want.

Maxis asked his daughter, Samantha, to kill them all (the human race). I believe he meant all of Group 935/ anyone associated with 115. Although once he was killed in front of the open M.P.D. his soul was sucked up, but instead of using it as energy for the M.P.D. his soul was put in a trance in the M.P.D. and the demon possessed his soul as well, taking Maxis's last words to heart. To 'Kill them All.'

Wow! I decided to see if this post gained any thoughts and man did it! I'm glad you all are interested!

I skimmed some responses and want to give some of my answers.

1. You have to remember who Richtofen is before and after MPD contact. Before, all we have of him are Moon's first 3 radios. In these, he is portrayed as a scientist working towards scientific progress and to improve the human condition, Group 935's motto. In Moon Radio 2, you hear him question why Maxis would partner with the Nazis when it could ruin all of connections of members they had in Group 935. The only glimpse of a Richtofen who is looking toward Nazi advantages to teleportation is him saying "Think of the tactical advantage we will have." Besides that, we don't have much.

2. I wouldn't say the Richtofen was paranoid, or Maxis for that matter. Richtofen knew the gravity of what him and Shusta had discovered and was worried that Maxis would steal the idea and try to gain credit. Most scientists worry about this even to this day. People want credit when they discover something. I wouldn't call it paranoid. I'd call it wanting credit.

3. Many of the things described about Richtofen being evil, such as attempted murder of Maxis and Samantha happen after contact with the MPD.

Now, one person brought up an excellent point that I don't think was hit on enough. Why does this matter? If we have a demon in control of Richtofen's body, what difference does it make to our story? Who cares? Great question and I may have an answer for you.

Notice that in Carrion, they reference many of the old easter egg songs. The one I want to reference is 115. NOTE: This is all speculation obviously. Most see this as sung from Samantha's perspective, and it is. But after listening to it, I could see it being from Richtofen's as well. In fact, there is a male vocalist in the background of the song. Perhaps a hint?

In 115, take Elena's normal singing voice as Richtofen and take her screaming as the demon. When taken in this perspective, the song is LOADED with possible story implications, but there's one I want to point to. "You stand for nothing and overlooked something I'll bring you down all on my own..." Now these lyrics could be pointing to Richtofen taking down the demon himself. Perhaps Richtofen has a plan to take stop the demon and the demon has completely missed it. Perhaps teleportation itself since one could go back in time with it.

There's so much more that could be talked about. Keep discussing I like this.

If I can intervene here for a moment, in my opinion, Richtofen, though extremely crazy, isn't the MAIN antagonist in this story. Yes, he is the anti-hero, but I believe Maxis is the worst out of both of them. I've studied the storyline for years, researched historic events around the same timeline, wrote a book which is in the process of publishing thanks to given consent, and I have even made a fan-based website on the matter; with all this said I know the story like the back of my hand. Since I know we all want answers, you kind of have to go all the way back to almost the time before Origins in northern France during WWI at expedition site 64. This was when may I remind you, that Group 935 was run by professional leaders whom had different outlooks and goals than Maxis.

Group 935's leaders were informed by an anonymous source that there could potentially be a new element, numbered 115 on the periodic table, that was foreign to earth itself being only able to acquire it from meteors coming into earths atmosphere. They sent an archeological expedition team to the new expedition sight with two doctors, whom were both equal partners then, Dr. Ludvig Maxis and Dr. Edward A. Richtofen.

Now knowing I probably don't have the room to write the entire storyline (much to my dismay), I must cut this very short and get right to the point. Richtofen saved Maxis from being zombified and even calls him his best friend in his letters to Group 935's leaders when telling them about his condition and his mental instability. It was only when he touched the MPD, one of the three pyramids created by the ancient alien race known as the Vril-Ya, or the Vril, and the Aether controlled energy entered the back if his cerebral cortex did he begin to hear 'voices' and slowly gained the mental disorder known as schizophrenia. This is when the supposed 'voices' were giving him awful thoughts, telling him Maxis was going to steal his research on the MPD and the Vril. Because the MPD was controlled by an evil entity before Samantha took control, the evil entity began to plague his mind and basically controlled him from there on out. However, Maxis has no mental disorder and is perfectly capable of controlling himself.